I rather suspect that some of the locals regard LeWeb as a kind of blowsy aunt who arrives in whirl, talks too loudly, drinks a bit too much, pinches their cheeks, and flies away again.

That said, I think Le Web is now a great conference.  It’s got [...]]]>

I rather suspect that some of the locals regard LeWeb as a kind of blowsy aunt who arrives in whirl, talks too loudly, drinks a bit too much, pinches their cheeks, and flies away again.

That said, I think Le Web is now a great conference.  It’s got some faults. But there are few conferences in Europe where such variety and quality of speakers is available together with such diversity of attendees from around the world.

In many ways it is still very much Loic and friends having a chat on stage.  And that is part of its charm.  Why not get friends like Michael Arrington to chit-chat with various web folks on stage in Paris if you can make it happen?

This year Le Web was at Les Docks venue again.  This enabled three separate halls to be running simultaneously, with the networking hall getting a good workout.

Unfortunately the snow made walking between the various halls somewhat of a challenge.  As did the unwillingness of Parisian cab drivers to deliver or collect delegates out in the boondocks of St Denis in aforesaid snow.  This meant that for those unfortunate enough to miss the coach shuttles to the nearest metro station it was a trudge through the snow.

The food, drink and heating were good this year.  Some American friends found some of the food tastes alien to their palate (which was amusing to watch) but I found the food tasty and plentiful.

Again the parties were fun and a great chance for networking and vodka and there were a number of late arrivals on day two after the partying.

This year my favourite thing was the Ignite style talks which included gems such as:

• a passionate plea from a Ricardo Sousa (on Twitter @ricardojrsousa), a teen entrepreneur, seeking for mentors for himself and his peers so that they can change the world;
• and a superb talk on twitter diplomacy from Matthias Lüfkens (on Twitter @luefkens) about the democratization of political access .

The Ignite model is a great way to bring diversity of voices to LeWeb and I hope that they continue it next year.

On the first day many of the keynotes and fireside chats were brand and product discussions with company representatives from Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Twitter, France Telecom-Orange, etc.  There was nothing earth shattering in any of these if you already follow the industy. Marissa Mayer proved herself, yet again, as one of the most polished players in this game.

There was also a startup competition – which seemed a tad disorganised compared to others I’ve seen – yet which provided a valuable opportunity to showcase some local talents.

On day two the stand out sessions for me were Jeremiah Owyang‘s overview of Social Media And Big Business: Trends for 2011 and Gary Vaynerchuck‘s session where he refused to answer Twitter questions so as to be present with the audience in the room.

One of the problems with having two plenary rooms that were physically separated by a snowy road is that I (and probably many others) did not get over to the Eiffel Plenary room on day 2. This is where Thomas Crampton (who’s apparently now gone over to the ‘dark side’ from journalism – aka PR) was hosting a series of sessions that looked quite interesting.

Thus I have no personal insight into those sessions (which did sound interesting):

• “Lean Analytics for Startups: what every founder (and VC) needs to watch”
• “Asia: Digital Life, Real Billions”
• How Social is Changing the Gaming Industry
• How to Grow Your Business through Platforms and APIs
• How to leverage social networking in your business
• How to build your own platform
• Hackathon Award Ceremony by Alcatel Lucent
• The Social OS and the Human API
• Photography: From Analog Artists to Digital Mainstream

I do think it would have been better to be able to merely walk from hall to hall within the one building given that LeWeb is held in a Parisian winter.

All in all for me the visit to Paris from Australia was worth it.  LeWeb is a good conference that enables me to see what is happening in another part of the world by bringing together a diversity of practitioners from across the world. Some interesting new ideas came up in conversation, the networking was amazing, the parties and dinners were fun, and it was in Paris (after all).

The day started out rainy and grey, then turned snowy and grey and then ended with a cocktail reception in the Paris town hall. For the folks where were not jet lagged the party continued way into the night (but I was in bed early i.e. by 1.30am).

I [...]]]>

The day started out rainy and grey, then turned snowy and grey and then ended with a cocktail reception in the Paris town hall. For the folks where were not jet lagged the party continued way into the night (but I was in bed early i.e. by 1.30am).

I caught up with some interesting people in the networking area throughout the day and will post those chats to YouTube when I get some decent bandwidth. As is traditional for LeWeb the wifi has been very flaky; but this is not a surprise given how many people are in attendance (approximately 2,000 attendees I’m told).

The formal plenary sessions of the first day were very oriented big brands explaining their value propositions (not very exciting for me) – Marissa Mayer from Google is probably the best at doing this without making it dull.

But a new idea for LeWeb was a series of Ignite talks and this was a real hit with some standout speakers. I really hope LeWeb continues this idea in future.

• Francis Dierick: “Cold Water Swimming”
• Beathe Due: “Clouds and Concerts. New music experiences.”
• Ricardo Sousa: “Teen Entrepreneurs Can Change the World”
• Romain Lacombe: “Tocqueville 2.0: Opening Government Data”
• Matthias Lufkens: “Twitter Diplomacy”
• Fabrice Marchisio: “The Boiling Frog Phenomenon and The Importance of “weak signals””
• Luca Sartoni: “9 Things We Should Copy from the Internet”
• Ali Naqi Shaheen: “Protecting Sarah from the “iCulture””
• Steven Willmott: “Speak Beautiful XML to me – 10 ways to change the world with APIs”
• Fumi Yamazaki: “Japanese geek culture”

I’m gradually uploading my photos to the LeWeb 2010 set on Flickr as bandwidth permits.

I attended the afternoon sessions for day one of the  Media 140 conference in Sydney today as a live blogger/twitterer and have  been consolidating my thoughts. Here’s a summary of the speakers that resonated for me in the afternoon sessions:

Julie Posetti (a.k.a. @julie_posetti) did a nice [...]]]>

I attended the afternoon sessions for day one of the  Media 140 conference in Sydney today as a live blogger/twitterer and have  been consolidating my thoughts. Here’s a summary of the speakers that resonated for me in the afternoon sessions:

Julie Posetti (a.k.a. @julie_posetti) did a nice job of chairing the panels – a warm and friendly style

John Bergin (a.k.a. @theburgerman) displayed a splendid vocabulary and deep insights into the interplay between traditional media platforms and new media platforms.  He noted that the “the act of speaking should not be privileged over the act of listening”and that “passive news consumption is all but extinct”.  Wish he’d been able to share his thoughts for longer.

Bronwen Clune (a.k.a. @bronwen) discussed the changing nature of a journalist’s place in the world, admirably encapsulated as: “journalists – the audience formerly known as the media” (and she wore some fabulous red shoes ).

Leigh Sales (a.k.a. @leighsales ) talked about the how she approaches having an active social media presence and some of her techniques for balancing personal and work personas online, noting a simple rubric “if in doubt, leave it out” (she also wore some extremely funky white shoes ).

Stilgherrian (a.k.a. @stilgherrian) spoke about his puzzlement as to what journalists actually do, and noted that “90% of what journalists and bloggers do overlaps”. He pondered the decline of the 19th century style “media factories” and the rise of “social media” and did not mention #goats at all. The full text of his talk is available here.

Kudos to the ABC and to all the sponsors for a very thought provoking conference so far. Overall the logistics of the conference were great – well organised plus a nice venue with good parking & transport nearby. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings.

Still pondering why none of the men wore interesting shoes or clothing & was delighted to finally meet @wolfcat in real life.

#media140